This Day in History

Breakfast consisted of MREs and thick, boiled coffee, consumed while sitting under the tarp listening to all-too-familiar patter of rain on waterproof nylon. It was not a noteworthy event—no one shooting at them, no ambushes to plot, no hope of a decisive battle of any kind—but a pleasantly familiar, even soothing, one. Different planets, different weather, but still breakfast with a quiet feel of anticipation to it.

"We should be able to reach the site by late afternoon," Daniel said as he checked his notebook. "If we hurry."

Jack glanced up from his coffee. "Peachy."

"Glad you think so."

"What? I'm serious. I like the rain. Really, I do. My knees like it too." Jack patted his knee for effect. "The left one is predicting forty days and forty nights."

"What about the right one, sir?" Carter asked.

"That one's predicting forty hours with a ice pack."

"Perhaps, O'Neill, you wish to remain here to rest while we seek out the ruins of which Doctor Jackson speaks?"

Jack glared at Teal'c. "Oh, funny, Teal'c, real funny."

Teal'c's expression grew faintly puzzled, but Jack wasn't falling for it, especially with the way Daniel ducked his head and grinned. Smart-asses, all of them.

Carter leaned her head out from the shelter, peering up at the sky. It was gray, the same dull, featureless gray that it had been yesterday. And the day before. "I think it's easing up a bit." Teal'c turned and blinked at her. She added, "Maybe. Just a little. You think?"

"Your optimism is indefatigable," Teal'c told her.

"Really? Mine?" She looked to Jack. "It is?"

He shrugged in response. "Heck, that's what I've always said. That Carter, she's indefatigable."

Daniel shot him a look. "Is that so? I never heard you—"

"So, by late afternoon, huh?" Jack announced cheerily. "What do you say we—"

"Head out?" Daniel leapt to his feet, eager and ready to start the day. "I'm ready. Let's go." With a hint of a smile he offered a hand to Jack.

Jack scowled, but took the offered hand and allowed Daniel to pull him up, not because his knees were complaining all that loudly, but because he never turned down an opportunity to touch Daniel, even if it was only Daniel's hand. He still felt a dark, illicit thrill as Daniel's damp palm pressed against his, triggering remembered sensation of a lot more of that skin rubbing against his. With a rush of warmth that reached his ears, he let Daniel pull him to his feet. Daniel's hand lingered in his for a beat too long and his smile grew into something much like the smile he wore when he wasn't wearing anything else, the kind of smile that played on his lips when he took Jack's hand and pulled him down into bed and showed Jack just how descended he was.

Frisky son of a bitch.

Jack was sure his face was flushed by time he oh so casually yanked his hand away. He tugged his shirt down and smoothed imaginary creases in his pants until he regained his composure, and then reached for his pack and fired a stern colonel-style gaze at his team. "Let's go. Time's a-wasting."

Teal'c gave him an odd look and Jack fought the urge to shrug, because there was no reason, really, to hurry. It just sounded like something he needed to say. And maybe it would have been necessary to say it seven years ago, but now, after so many missions—maybe it wasn't so necessary. He watched as they broke camp and gather up their things and made ready—Carter pulling her rain poncho over her head, adjusting the hood over her hat, Teal'c stashing away the food wrappers, and Daniel carefully sealing his journal in a Ziplok bag. Same old, same old, just another mundane exploratory mission on a wet, rainy planet with too many trees.

Yet there was still that little punch in the in gut every time he saw the familiar black-and-white composition-style notebook in Daniel's hands, and maybe, Jack thought, these days weren't so ordinary after all.

After Daniel had died, while he had been wandering the universe doing the ascended thing, Jack would sometimes find himself in Daniel's old office late at night, when Jonas was presumably asleep in his quarters. At first he'd just sit, not really thinking or remembering, but just sitting and trying to figure out what the hell he was doing there. After a couple of visits, he took to wandering around the lab, touching the scattered artifacts, until he began randomly pulling out Daniel's old mission journals, reading though the scribbled accounts of past missions. Familiar stories, all written in that cramped handwriting he knew all too well, writing that was small and rushed as if Daniel had been afraid of running out of room before the story finished.

Those days were in the past now. Over and done with. They had ended when the team had come upon a confused but familiar figure in blue robes on Vis Uban and now there was a brand new stack of journals stashed away next to the old ones.

"Are we ready, kids?" Jack asked, shouldering his pack.

Of course they were ready.

"So," Daniel started as they hiked along the narrow, winding path, "did I mention that the remains of this structure appear to be remarkably similar to the one SG-12 found on P2X-5501 last year?"

"Yes, Daniel, I believe you might have mentioned it once or twice." Jack dodged a low tree branch, heavy with wet leaves.

"Those were the writings that described much of the early movements of the System Lords, right?" Carter asked, playing along.

"Right, right." And then Daniel was off, explaining in detail the movements of a handful of minor system lords that Jack didn't give a damn about, a jumble of names and places that didn't seem to matter much. They were long gone, weren't they? Clearly, to Daniel, their history was important.

***

They stood together, all in a row, staring at the rain-drenched walls, the very blank, featureless rain-drenched walls.

"This is not good," Daniel said. He squished through a mud puddle, getting up close to the smooth surface, squinting and running his fingers over it. "Erosion? I think."

"Huh," Jack said. "We could show movies on it."

"Limestone," Daniel said absently as he walked along the wall.

"Not good?"

"No, Jack, not good." Silence, as he stepped back, craning his neck as he looked over the upper edge of edge of the wall, crumbling in places. He frowned at the large fernlike growth draped halfway down a portion of it. "Maybe there's a more protected area," he said, his voice trailing off.

Jack became aware of Teal'c and Carter staring at him expectantly. "Okay," he said. "Carter, you take the north section, Teal'c, head west, young man, and I'll cover the south walls." With any luck, they could cover it in an afternoon, and be heading back to the 'gate the following day.

Daniel nodded at him, distracted expression and raindrops on his glasses as he scraped at patch of rich green moss.

Jack took his time walking the walls. He was growing warm and clammy under his rain poncho. It was fall at home, weather turning cool and dry. Crisp leaves underfoot, damn leaves probably piling up on his lawn, but yeah, that was better than this wet air that lay heavy on his skin, the spongy ground beneath his feet, the smell of mold and rotting vegetation. He'd build a fire when he got back, and with any luck Daniel wouldn't have any fresh material to translate, his mission report wouldn't take very long to write, and all that Daniel-energy and focus will have to find some sort of outlet. The kind of outlet that would involve nakedness. Complete nakedness, along with fierce groping and grasping, teeth pressed against skin, hands tangled in hair, soft cries and twisted-up sheets, a heart-pounding madness that lasted long into the night and left him feeling bruised in the morning, exhausted and yet still ready for more of the same.

But right now Jack had the damn walls to look at, utterly blank, boring walls on a waterlogged planet. Still, he did look, very carefully, eyes scanning every inch of the pale, crumbling stone, but whatever had been written there had long since weathered away. No surface was left untouched. Whatever these people had experienced in their lifetimes was going to remain a mystery and Daniel was going to be disappointed, but there going to be were other planets and other stories, right?

***

He found Daniel on his knees, digging in the mud with a small shovel. Jack crouched beside him. "So," he said. "I got nothing on my side. How about you? Decided to plant some petunias instead?"

A sideways look, lips in a firm, straight line as water dripped from the brim of his hat. "Yes, Jack. That's what I'm doing." Daniel turned back to his hole, scraping mud from the side of the wall, exposing what had been beneath the surface of the mud. A splash of water from his canteen, and Daniel leaned in, feeling the smooth stone surface with his fingers. His expression grew thoughtful, his brow knitted, and then he shook his head.

"No luck?"

Daniel sighed. "Nope." He pushed his glasses up and rubbed his nose, leaving behind a smear of mud. "Maybe I'll get video of it in the morning, just to see if we can bring up anything with the enhancements, but I'm guessing we won't."

Jack stared at the dirt on Daniel's nose. "Are you certain they ever got around to actually writing on the walls? Maybe they were too busy, you know, actually doing the stuff instead."

"But they're so similar in design to the site on the other planet. The desert one. It's the climate, all this precipitation. Jack, their history is gone." Daniel sighed again.

"Okay, we'll make up one for them." Jack pointed to the first wall. "Because it doesn't matter who they were, does it? The basic story is always the same. We were born. We grew up. We ate, we drank, we fucked, we died."

"Thank you, Jack. So poetic."

Jack stood, pulling Daniel up with him. "All right," he said, stepping behind Daniel and leaning in so that his head touched the brim of Daniel's hat. "How about—we came, we ate, we drank, we got crabby because we were out in the rain and because even though these walls had something written on them, it's all gone now and we should be gone, too?"

"I don't think so." Daniel eyed him searchingly. "It's more like 'we came, we ate, we drank, and even though this is a cakewalk, you're having a damn good time being a pain in the ass because that's what you do best.'"

"Hey, if it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing well." But maybe it was the dirt on Daniel's nose while Daniel scowled that made him add, "Ass," while nudging him with his elbow.

Over the sound of the rain Jack could make out Carter's soft exclamation of, "Oh, wow."

Daniel perked up visibly. "Sam?" He dashed off.

Jack trailed after him, slipping a little on the wet grass as he turned down the north corridor.

"What have you got?" Daniel asked, breathless.

Wide blue eyes, a little sheepish under the brim of her cap. "Oh, Daniel, sorry, it wasn't—but here, look—" She pointed to the wall, and Jack stared for a moment until he realized he was looking at a bug—a big, pretty bug, in Jack's opinion. It looked a little like a katydid, with six long, elegant legs, and red stripes on its torso. It was standing stock still in a worn depression in the stone wall, and Jack could swear it wasn't happy about all the rain, either.

"Cool," Jack said.

"Huh." Daniel peered at it.

"It is an insect," Teal'c stated from behind them, his distaste evident in his careful pronunciation.

Jack was pretty sure that after the incident way back on BP6-3-whatever that Teal'c was less than sanguine when it came to bugs, even innocent-looking katydid bugs who had no intention of laying eggs in your body. "Yes, Teal'c, it is."

"Well, I was excited to see something," Carter continued, apologetically, "other than all this nothing…sorry Daniel. I didn't mean to get your hopes up. It was just kind of neat."

"Neat," Daniel repeated, with amusement.

Carter shrugged, "Yes, neat." It occurred to Jack that she looked happy, despite the lack of technical doodads to play with.

"Okay, Sam." Daniel squinted at the walls around him. "No writing?"

"No." She shook her head, water droplets spraying from her cap, then pointed to a small hole. "Not even beneath the surface. I can dig some more if you like." She paused, squinting at Daniel. "Wait a second—you've got dirt—" She wiped Daniel's nose with her thumb. "There, that's better."

A quick grin, and then Daniel asked, "Teal'c?"

"I too found nothing."

"Oh well," Jack said gaily, "I guess the mission's a wash. Defeated by rain, distracted by bugs. We never knew what hit us. We head back in the morning."

Carter patted Daniel's shoulder sympathetically. "Maybe, Daniel, these people didn't do anything interesting anyway."

Jack tried not to grin, he really did.

***

Jack set up the overnight watches as usual—quiet planet, yeah sure, four uneventful days so far, but he wasn't going to be fooled by that ruse. He took the first watch, assigned Daniel the second, then Carter, and finally Teal'c, who would be up anyway, maybe looking out for dangerous katydids.

Jack woke when Daniel came crawling into the tent. The sound of nylon slithering on nylon, boots being unlaced, the click of glasses being folded and stashed away, and finally, a soft sigh. All familiar sounds, almost homey, even though he wasn't anywhere near home. This wasn't his bedroom, and it wasn't Daniel's, either. It was a military-issue two-man tent and he was supposed to go back to sleep, to have patience, because they will have their time together soon enough.

Still, he opened one eye to check on Daniel.

Daniel was lying on his back on top of his sleeping bag, one arm at his side, the other flung over his head. His scent filled the tent, warm and rich like the earth itself. His chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm, and despite the dark, Jack could sense his irritation and frustration.

He reached an arm out to touch Daniel's hand, brushing his fingertips across Daniel's knuckles. Daniel turned his hand over, his hand closing momentarily over Jack's before releasing it in silent acknowledgment. Jack couldn't resist sliding his fingers across Daniel's palm, to his wrist, over delicate tendons, seeking and then finding his pulse. Its regular beat drummed under his fingertips.

To the sound of the rain pattering on the tent, Jack's fingers were irresistibly drawn to the smooth skin of his inner arm, the damp crease of his elbow, and then over a firm, rounded biceps. This Mach Two Daniel seemed to have muscles that Jack could have sworn weren't there before, along with an energy and drive and a wholly new kind of determination. This new Daniel came back into Jack's life with a momentum that had carried him right into Jack's bed, and all Jack could think was why the hell had they waited so long?

Daniel's head turned. Despite the dark Jack could just make out his eyes gleaming below thick brows. As Jack's fingertips left Daniel's arm and trailed across his chest, the brows drew together with a quizzical look, the familiar "what the hell are you doing?" look that Jack knew and instigated every chance he got. He found a nipple and played with it, raking it with fingernail as it grew hard under his touch.

Daniel breathed in sharply. In a low, annoyed voice, he said, "Jack, don't start something you—"

Jack reached and covered Daniel's mouth with his hand. Moving slowly, deliberately, he leaned in, his lips almost touching Daniel's ear. "Shhhh."

Daniel stilled.

Jack grinned and brushed his lips against the curve of Daniel's ear. Daniel was so easy. How come it had taken him so many years to learn that? He touched the lobe with his tongue before pulling away. One finger slipped into Daniel's mouth as his lips parted, wet tongue and teeth. Another finger slid inside his mouth, and Daniel made a small sound, not quite a moan, as he sucked. His mouth was wet and slick, and when Daniel's teeth scraped across sensitive fingertips, Jack's cock got harder, and that was weird, but hell, he wasn't complaining. He withdrew his fingers, sliding them between Daniel's lips, then leisurely pushed in again, just like a good, slow fuck. Daniel must have been thinking the same thing, because he moved, just a ripple of motion against the ground—hips, chest, shoulders, but it was just like the way he moved when Jack's cock was inside him, and Jack started thinking that would be a damn good idea.

Jack withdrew his fingers again, stroking Daniel's lower lip. Daniel shifted again, this time to turn and face Jack, all rustling nylon and scraping sounds and too damn noisy. Someone was going to hear despite the rain. Jack put a hand on Daniel's hip, pushing him flat against the ground. Lips against Daniel's ear again, and he teased in a soft whisper, "If you move again, I'll have to stop."

"Oh," Daniel breathed, with a hint of astonishment. He went still, utterly motionless, his lower lip caught between his teeth, and Jack loved it. He had no idea that getting the upper hand like this would be such a rush, or that touching Daniel's mouth could be so fucking erotic but this was Daniel, and Daniel could make a simple act like writing in a notebook seem blatantly pornographic.

Jack knew Daniel wanted it just as much as he did. He could feel in the heat coming off his body, could see it in the bulge of his trousers. Daniel needed this. Daniel had been disappointed, and Daniel shouldn't have to wait until they got home, shouldn't he?

Jack did what he always knew he would eventually end up doing offworld—he unfastened Daniel's pants. He took his damn sweet time, too, savoring the release of every button. By the time he was finished, they were both breathing hard. Jack reached inside and stroked Daniel's hard-on, hot, solid flesh under his palm making his heart quicken. Daniel gasped and stiffened further. With one hand Jack awkwardly tugged at Daniel's pants and briefs. Daniel obligingly lifted his hips. God, Jack could smell him, the gut-wrenching scent of unwashed skin and sweat and dirt. It made his dick throb and oh, fuck, he wanted Daniel more than ever now, four days of walking in the rain on a quiet planet and Daniel being just so typically Daniel, just being there beside him, sending snotty looks his way and smirking with those wide, soft lips. Jack was only human, and yes, they were doing this, he had always known that they would do this someday, because he could barely keep his fucking hands off the man. They were safe inside their little tent, rain falling all around, the distant squelch of Carter's boots in the mud, and she was far enough away, and Daniel surely could keep quiet enough, couldn't he?

The tube of petroleum jelly was the only lube Jack could carry without raising any eyebrows. It was greasy and messy, but as he squeezed it on his fingers, Daniel breathed "oh god, Jack," in a stunned voice. Jack shushed him as he reached between Daniel's legs. Daniel drew his legs up, canted his hips, his eager cock bumping against Jack's wrist as he felt past Daniel's balls. and yes, a tight little hole, right there, waiting for him in the darkness. His fingers slid past the ring of muscle easily, and then buried two slick fingers in Daniel's warm body. Daniel's mouth moved, lips parting, and Jack covered it with his, muffling a sudden moan. Daniel hooked an arm around Jack's neck and kissed him, his tongue stuttering in Jack's mouth when Jack thrust his fingers.

Daniel was his. Daniel was never leaving him again. Jack planned to keep him, right there, with his fingers and tongue, hold him in place forever, his Daniel, so damn dirty with his pants pushed down past his hips, with Jack's fingers stuffed up his ass, and Jack loved it, eating Daniel's mouth and nibbling at his lips, lips that were soft and full and smirked at him when he wasn't kissing him.

"Now," Daniel mouthed. Impatient, as always.

Jack shook his head, his nose rubbing against Daniel's bristled cheek. Not yet. He was having too damn much fun with the finger-fucking. If he reached in deep and rubbed just right, he could wrench amazing little sounds from Daniel, barely audible noises of lust and need. He loved that he could get Daniel this worked up.

Jack nipped at Daniel's neck, and Daniel was doing something, squirming around with one hand on the hem of his own shirt. He pulled it up, exposing his chest, and Jack knew exactly what he wanted. Obligingly, he nuzzled Daniel's chest in the dark and found a nipple, making Daniel arch up into him as he sucked and licked and then bit down, hard. Daniel panted, breathing so heavily Jack was afraid Carter would hear, but then again he wasn't breathing too quietly himself, and the taste of Daniel's salt and sweat and the feel of the tight, hard nipple against his tongue was almost too much to bear.

One last, gentle bite to the area and Jack found Daniel's ear again. "On your side," he whispered, sliding his fingers from Daniel ass.

Daniel scrambled to obey, rolling away from Jack. He pushed his ass into Jack's lap, getting it in Jack's way as he hurried to unbutton his fly. Jack slapped it lightly, and if they were anywhere else, he would have buried his face in it, leaving a hot rash of whisker burn behind on those smooth cheeks.

Pants finally unbuttoned, cock out and greased, and he was ready, sliding his overheated dick down the cleft of Daniel's pushy ass. He brought his knees up further, curling around Daniel's body before pushing inside, gliding into him, such an insanely tight squeeze, even as Daniel opened up, pushing back and bearing down. With that first rush of pleasure, Jack almost lost it, enveloped in all that heat and pressure, almost enough to push him over the edge, but he recovered, gritting his teeth and pressing his forehead against Daniel's back. He kept Daniel still with an iron grasp on his hip, but Daniel didn't seemed to mind, breathing hard and fast, shit, they were both panting as if they had just run uphill away from an army of Jaffa and this, this was being alive, this is what they should be writing on the walls with their sweat and dirt. They lived and died and lived and loved. They had done it in the wrong order, yet somehow they had figured it out, and that story would never get told.

He pressed close to Daniel, his stomach touching Daniel's exposed back, Daniel's T-shirt bunched up. Sliding an arm around Daniel's waist, he stroked Daniel's stomach, its muscles trembling minutely under his palm, and he began to thrust, taking it slow and easy, pushing in, pulling out, luxuriating in the sensation of Daniel's body squeezing along the length of his cock. He could felt Daniel's quiet, blissful sigh and mirrored it with his own. Somehow his arm found its way underneath Daniel's head and Daniel licked and sucked at the crook of his elbow.

Slide in, slide out, god damn it was good, his face pressed against the back of Daniel's neck, breathing him in, eyes closed. Holding back, letting the low, easy pleasure build, as gentle as the rainfall. He could fuck Daniel until dawn if he wanted to. In and out, rocking his hips as the air inside the tent grew more warm and humid, closing over them, blanketing them. The night stretched out and they had all the time in the world—in this world, and in every world they had ever visited.

A low noise from Daniel, more of a vibration against Jack's stomach, and Daniel shifted restlessly, his hand moving to his own cock. Jack let him go at it, his own hand still splayed over Daniel's sweetly rounded yet solid stomach, sweaty skin, oh god, absorbing the sensation, the shiver in his body while Daniel squeezed and stroked, growing closer to coming.

"Shhhh," Jack whispered as a warning.

A low grunt, and Daniel bit down on his arm, breath quickening. With a jerk of his hips, he came soundlessly. Jack loved this moment, the sheer ecstasy of it. He loved how Daniel's body shuddered helplessly, how the muscles clenched tight around his cock, how he had to work to push his cock into Daniel's body. At last Daniel's body eased, melting against Jack's, Daniel's ragged breaths slowing down as he relaxed.

Jack was on the edge. A little push and he'd come. His dick was stiff and hard and his balls were drawn tight and aching. He could taste Daniel's pleasure in the sweat on his skin, the fine damp hairs of his hairline, but he didn't want it to give into it just yet, fuck no, not when Daniel reached behind and caressed his hip like that. Not when every stroke felt like it could break him—

Too late. Pleasure flared up inside of him and he gave in completely, clutching Daniel as he came, his body seizing up and it was fucking spectacular. He didn't come down for what seemed to be a long, long time, Daniel still petting his hip, and he just wanted to stay there, inside of Daniel, holding onto to Daniel for the rest of the night, because this was their story now.

***

Breakfast consisted of MREs and thick, boiled coffee, consumed while sitting under the tarp to the all-too-familiar patter of rain on waterproof nylon. Teal'c sat cross-legged next to him, contemplating the unchanged sky, Carter lingered over coffee, and Daniel, across from him, wrote in his journal, his expression intent as he scribbled.

Another careful sip of too-hot coffee. "Weather report, Teal'c?" Jack demanded.

"It is raining."

"Really? " Eyes wide with mock astonishment, he turned to Carter. "How about you, Major?"

"Rain, sir. I think maybe thirty-nine days left?" She cradled a cup in her hands, looking down into it as if it would foretell the future.

"Oh yeah." Jack leaned back, content. "We've got this weather forecasting thing licked."

He didn't miss the way Daniel's eyebrows twitched at the world "lick." Jack said directly to him, with a jerk of his chin, "Preserving the results of this momentous mission for posterity?"

Daniel tapped his pencil against the page. "Yes, Jack, I am."

"Blank walls, rain, and a katydid?" Jack asked.

"It's all part of 'we came, we saw'…you know how it goes. Want to see?" Daniel closed the notebook, pencil holding his place, and offered it to Jack.

"No, that's okay, Daniel, really," Jack said, waving the black-and-white composition notebook away. "I was there, remember?"

Daniel nodded, and as he pulled the Ziplock bag out of his pack his lips curved into a not-quite-smile. "Yes, you were, weren't you."

Jack became all too aware that he still had Daniel's sweat on his skin and Daniel's teethmarks on his arm, hidden from sight under his BDUs—the here and now of his life. No notebooks necessary.

He rose to his feet. "All righty then, what do you say we head on out?"